Welding process and joint



July l5, 1952 A, G, BUTLER 2,603,735

WELDING PROCESS AND JOINT Filed Sept. l2, 1949 FIG.. 6.

' INvENToR II I6 |4 I4 I6 I' ADOLF G. BUILER ATTORNEYS Patented July 15,Y1952 Adolf G. Butler, Hawthorne, Calif., assigner to American Pipe andConstruction Co., 'a corpo.-

raton of` Delaware l Appr-[tation september 12, 1949,L serial No.115,291

kends to be joined thereby deforming thewires and collar ,into holdingengagement .with each other. Another. 'and more recent. method, is tojoin the endsof the wires by welding.. Both these methods,v and various,other methods sofar as I am! aware, have .the objection that thejointproduced is wealcervthan the wire itself.

yAn object -of this invention is to provide a novel and improved methodof joining wire, particularly high tensile steel wire, which produces ajoint which is stronger than the wire itself.

Another object. iste provide a-novel andimproved type of joint for wire.-More particularly, it is an-object to provide a joint in which a sleevemade up of two sections welded together overlies and is welded to thewire.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of joining wirewhich is simple to perform and can be economically carried out.

Another object is to provide a method of joining wire by welding whichpermits of and facilitates austempering of the joint.

These and other objects will be apparent from theY drawing and thefollowing description.

Referring to the drawing, which is for illusstrative purposes only:

Fig. l is an elevational view of a completed joint produced by themethod of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view showing the parts that make up the joint; f

Fig. 3 is an elevational view showing the two sleeves after the samehave beveled;

Fig. 4 is a view showing prior to welding;

Fig. 5 is a plan View showing the AWires to be joined with the sleevesections thereon with the parts held clamped in the jaws of a Weldingmachine in position to be welded;

Fig. 6 is a view on line 6--6 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. '7 is a sectional view of the parts shown in Fig.` 5 after the samehave been welded to com'- plete the joint.

The method of the invention may be generally described as comprising thesteps of applying sleeve sections to the Wire ends to be joined andjoining the wire ends and the sleeve sections into l an integral unit,preferably by resistance weldcomme (o1. 21e- 4) the parts assembled ingand accompanied, byV austempering of the weld. By resistance welding- Irefer to the type of welding wherein the parts to be joined are raisedto the temperature of fusion by the passage of a heavy electricalcurrent therethrough and pressure is then applied to bring about theunion.

More particularly describing the invention, numeral Il designates thewires to be joined. While the method of this invention was primarilydesigned for joining high tensile steel wire of the type previouslydescribed and the wires H may be considered to be of this character, it,is contemplated that the method may also be useful in joining othertypes of wires and rods.

. The wires Il are preferably provided with flat end faces l2. Each wireis fitted with a steel sleeve I4 as shown in Fig. 4. The sleeves may beformed of a mild steelV or an alloy steel. The internal diameter of thesleeves is preferably such that the sleeves t relatively tightly on thewires and the nt may be described as a light drive fit.'

To facilitate welding, the ends of the sleeves to be joined are beveledto produce the frustoconical end faces l5' thereon. I prefer to bevelthe sleeves before assembling them on the wires, however this is amatter o-f convenience.

After the sleeves and wires are assembled as shown in Fig. 4, the twosets of assembled parts are clamped in jaws I6 of a resistance weldingmachine. Since such machines are well known in the Welding art, only thejaw portions thereof have been shown inthe drawing and these arevschematically shown. Each jaw is provided with a pair of clamp platesl1 which are connected in the electrical welding circuit of the machine.

I prefer to provide each section l1 of the plates with an elongatedrecess I8 for receiving the wire and a counter recess I9 for receivingthe sleeve. The two elements of the jaw are secured together tightly inclamping relation to the wire and sleeve by any suitable means. By wayof illustration I show one clamp plate abutting a portion I6 of the jawand the other forced toward it by a fluid motor or jack 22. Whenassembled in the jaws, the ends of the sleeves and wires are madel toproject beyond the jaws about as shown in Fig. 5 and the jaws are thenmoved relatively toward each other to bring the wires into abuttingend-to-end relation. For this purpose, one jaw' may be fixed and theother provided with a fiuid ram or jack 23. y

As previously indicated, I prefer to join the wires by resistancewelding. When the assembled 3 parts are in the position in which theyare shown in Fig. 5, slight axial pressure is brought to bear andmaintained on the wires and sleeves and welding current passed throughthe work for the period of time required to bring the same to Weldingtemperature. During the last few cycles of the passage of the weldingcurrent, the jaws are forcibly brought closer together under consider'-able pressure thereby forging the joint. This pressure is preferablysufficient to not only cause forging action at the joint but also toupset the ends of the sleeves and wires so as to produce a joint havingthe appearance of that shown in Figs. 1 and 7.

After the weld has been completed, the welded;

joint is allowed to quench or cool for a short period of time and then alow amperage current is passed through the joint to eiie'ct austemp'eratightly-fitting sleeve on the end of each wire, placing the ends of thewires in abutting relation,

passing' an electrical current therethrough of sufficient amperage toheat the wires and sleeves at` their abutting ends to fusiontemperature,

" and forcibly pressing the wires and sleeves toing thereof in themanner known in the art.

The resulting joint is shown in Figs. 1 and 7 in ywhich numeral has beenused to designate what will be termed a collar formed by the weldingtogether of the two sleeves I 4L In the iinished joint, the joined wiresare reinforced by thiscollar 25 and the additional area vthereof addsstrength to the joint while kthe upset ends of the wires within thecollar 25 furnishes the grip to prevent the wires being pulled apart-un-Yder tension. In addition, the wire in the region of the*v we1d visstiffened by the collar and this prevents undue bending or distortion ofthe wire in use, such as might cause a fracture tovdevelop inthe weldedjoint where the metal may be somewhatmore brittle than in the otherparts of the wire.; ,o Y

There are several advantages attendant upon the use of the sleeves l.For example, the dimensions of the sleeves may be varied in order tointroduce a control' factor for use in determining or controlling theheatfaiected, zone in the wire, the fquenching rate of the Wire, theshape and temperature of the heat-eiiected'zone and the time of weldingand hence the grain growth in the zone. Itis also true that the forgingpressure upon the wire may be controlled by the restraining action ofthe sleeve sections since the thicker the sleeve the higher the forgingpressure that will be brought to bear in the center of the wire. Inaddition the clamping plates at the jaws of the welding machine may bevaried in size to Vary the quenching rate of the work.

While I prefer tobevel the ends of the sleeves as above described, thisis not absolutely essential. For example, the ends of the wires may berounded to a somewhat convex shape and the ends of the sleeves left fiatand positioned slightlybael: of the ends of the wirres.

gether'faxially to forge the joint and upset the ends of the wires andsleeves.

2. The method of joining a pair of single, high tension steel wires inend-to-end-relation which comprises tightly *fittingv a sleeve over theend of each wire and positioning the 'sleeves to be coterminous ,withthe'wires, providing a beveled edge on the ends ofthe sleeves at 'theends of the wires, positioningthe wires in abutting endto-end relation,and welding-the ends ofthe wires and sleeves together'toV form a unitaryproduct.

l 3.. A unitary joined wire structure characterizedfby a joint havinggreater strength than the wire sections of the structure comprising apair of single, high tension steel wire sections joined by a weld inend-to-end relation, and a collar I overlying the weld andthe adjacentend portions of the wire sections, said ycollar being formed of a pairof sleeves welded together, said collar being weldedv at its centerAtosaid wire sections.

' 4. A structureas dened in claimin which ksaid collar is formed of apair of sleeves welded together and in which the weldedv ends of thesleevtes and welded ends of the wire sections are upse ADOLF G. BUTLER.

7 REFERENCES lcitrine The following references are-of record intheiileof this-patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS McBain Nov. 10, 1942

